Combat, Damage, and Healing

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

Sometimes you just gotta hit somethin’. One of the things that make role playing games such a compelling diversion is the percentage of problems your character can solve by punching something in the face. The effect damage will have on your character is affected by the type of attack that inflicted damage and whether that damage is lethal or non-lethal. When your hit points are reduced to 0 by non-lethal damage, for example, the result is unconsciousness. If your hit points are reduced to 0 by lethal damage, it could result in a coma or death.

Turn Sequence
Combat in Modern 20 is turn-based, meaning everyone acts at a specific time each round. Once everyone has taken an action, the turn sequence begins again. Ordinarily, a turn is sequenced as follows:
1. All combatants begin with the Surprised condition. Once a combatant has taken their turn, she is no longer Surprised.
2. All combatants roll Initiative (see below). Unconscious combatants do not roll for initiative; their Initiative is 1.
3. The game master calls for Instinct checks. The person that initiated combat, and all their allies, does not need to make this Instinct check and are considered to have rolled successfully; they are known as the aggressors. Other combatants roll versus the aggressor's lowest Initiative. If they are relatively sure that Combat would be initiated, they gain Advantage on this check. All those who succeeded at their Instinct check do not have the Surprised condition
4. All combatants act in order from highest to lowest. After someone's turn has ended they roll initiative for the next round.
5. After all combatants have taken a turn, the action is reset, with the highest initiative roll taking a second action. This continues until the combat ends.

Initiative
At the start of every combat, each character rolls initiative. This determines the order in which each character (both PC and NPC) take their actions. Initiative is rolled using either Reflexes or Wits, plus any miscellaneous modifiers.

Defense
Your defense determines the target number an attack roll must exceed to score a hit. Defense is calculated as follows: Defense = 10 + Dexterity modifier + Level Bonus. There are several feats that increase this, and several others that allow you to add ranks in a skill for your Defense instead, but only when using it against certain kinds of attacks, and not while Surprised.

Attack Skills
There are many skills that determines the accuracy of your character’s attacks. When making an attack, you roll the appropriate skill for the type of attack you are making. This is compared to your target’s Defense. If your attack roll is equal to, or higher than, your target’s Defense, you hit.


General Modifiers
These modifiers are variable and are added or subtracted from attacks.


Mostly Static Modifiers
These modifiers are static and are added or subtracted from Defense, and Reflexes saves (in which case they are variable).


Cover
One of the best defenses available is cover. By taking cover behind a tree, a car, or the corner of a building, you can protect yourself from attacks—especially ranged attacks—and also from being spotted, Cover provides a bonus to your Defense. The more cover you have, the bigger the bonus. In a melee, if you have cover against an opponent, that opponent probably has cover against you, too. With ranged weapons, however, it's easy to have better cover than your opponent, Indeed, that's why snipers like to shoot out of small windows instead of from out in the open.

Cover and Attacks of Opportunity
You can’t execute an attack of opportunity against an opponent with cover.

Cover and Stealth Checks
You can use cover to make a Stealth check. It grants an Equipment bonus equal to the Defense bonus granted.

Soft Cover
Creatures, even your enemies, can provide you with cover against ranged attacks, giving you a +4 bonus to AC. However, such soft cover provides no bonus on Reflex saves, nor does soft cover allow you to make a Stealth check.

Striking the Cover instead of a missed target If an attack roll would have hit the protected target with-out the cover, the cover is hit instead. If the damage from the attack exceeds the cover's hardness, the character takes the remaining damage. If the Cover is Soft Cover, you apply the attack roll to them instead.

Concealment
Besides cover, another way to avoid attacks is to make it hard for opponents to know where you are. Concealment is a condition that gives the subject of a successful attack a chance that the attacker missed, and allows them to Hide. If the attacker hits, the defender makes a miss chance percentile roll to avoid being struck. When multiple concealment conditions apply to a defender use the one that would produce the highest miss chance. Do not add the miss chances together. Concealment is also required when someone wants to take the Hide action. Concealment includes all circumstances in which nothing physically blocks a blow or shot, but something interferes with an attacker's accuracy. There are two Concealment conditions, Light and Heavy.

Light Concealment: Creatures have disadvantage on Perception checks that rely on sight when trying to see something that is Lightly Obscured. Creatures that are Lightly Concealed give attackers a 25% miss chance on attacks, and can take the Hide action. Dim light, patchy fog, or moderate foliage are all capable of providing a creature with the Light Concealment condition.

Heavy Concealment: A Creature cannot see, and automatically fails any ability check that requires sight when trying to see, something that is Heavily Obscured. A creature that is Heavily Concealed gains Advantage on Stealth checks. Creatures that are Heavily Concealed give attackers a 50% miss chance on attacks, and can take the Hide action. Darkness, opaque fog, dense foliage, or anything else that blocks vision entirely are capable of providing a creature with the Heavily Obscured condition.

Sight
A creature has advantage on attack rolls against targets that they can see, if the target that can't see their attacker. A creature has disadvantage on attack rolls against targets they cannot see.

Range Penalty
All range attacks have a range increment, a distance in which they are most accurate. If the distance between you and your target is equal to or less than this range increment, you suffer no range penalty. Each multiple of this distance imposes a cumulative –2 penalty to hit, up to a -8; after 5 increments, the weapon can longer hit a target.

Hit Locations
When your character makes her attack roll, the natural (unmodified) result of the d20 attack roll will determine where the attack hit, as shown on the table below. This also modifies the amount of damage dealt by the attack, also shown on the table below.

Injuries
A certain number of degrees of success also inflicts an injury upon the target. The severity of the injury is determined by the number of degrees of success the attack succeeds by.

Called Shot
By spending a Bonus action to aim at a specific area of an opponent's body, and taking the designated penalty, the character may attempt to damage a specific area on the opponent's body. When done in this manner, the attack requires one less degree of success to inflict an injury.



Healing Injuries: Injuries last until they heal, or until they are treated by a physician. The severity of the injury dictates the complexity of the Recovery save required to heal, as well as the type of rest required before each check, and if it can be healed with or with a physician's assistance. Remember that a Recovery save can be made by a character, using their Endurance skill, or by an attending Physician, using the Physician's Medicine skill. If the character reaches their maximum skill failures, the condition is permanent until successfully treated by a Physician, or another Physician, if the original Recovery saves were failed by an attending Physician. Please note that certain consequences of injuries, such as bleeding, can be treated much sooner than other consequences of an injury, and some, like broken bones, need more time to heal even if the Recovering saving throw was made successfully.

Damage

Damage is the unfortunate consequence of combat. Damage is broken down into six areas: semi-permanent & permanent damage, lethal damage, non-lethal damage, ability score damage, and ability score loss. These six kinds of damage have different effects and heal at different rates, as described below.

Semi-Permanent and Permanent damage:
Semi-permanent damage represents extreme harm to a character's body and mind, and without proper medical care, can become permanent. Semi-permanent damage reduces a character's maximum HP. When your character takes enough lethal damage to fall below 0 HP, the damage becomes semi-permanent and your character falls into a Coma. Acid, Base, Cancerous/Holy/Positive, and Necrotic/Profane/Negative damage also deal semi-permanent damage, even if they don't reduce your character below 0 HP. Healing semi-permanent damage requires a Complete rest. Characters have the Disabled and Staggered conditions as long as they have Semi-permanent damage.
If your character takes an amount of Semi-permanent damage equal to their Maximum HP or more, they die.
Permanent Damage: Permanent damage is removed from a character's Maximum HP. Permanent damage cannot be healed without supernatural healing. Only Radiant/Radiation and Shadow/Void damage deals Permanent damage

Lethal Damage
Lethal damage is much more serious than non-lethal damage and even a small amount can lead to death without proper medical care. Ballistic, Collision/Falling/Vehicular, Concussion/Concussive/Explosive, Deprivation/Desiccation, Fire, Lighting/Electricity/Plasma, Piercing, Poison, and Slashing damage automatically deals lethal damage. When your character takes enough lethal damage to fall below 0 HP, the damage becomes semi-permanent and your character falls into a Coma.

Non-lethal Damage
Bludgeoning/Blunt/Unarmed, Earth, Frost, Ion, Psychic, Thunder, Water and Wind damage all inflict non-lethal damage. Non-lethal attacks may inflict lethal damage if the attack achieves two degrees of success or more, at the attacker's discretion. Unarmed attacks may also inflict lethal damage if the attacker has the Combat Martial Arts feat. If you are reduced to 0 HP or lower by non-lethal damage, you gain the Staggered condition.

Ability Score Damage
Your character's ability score has been temporarily reduced by 1 or more points. After taking a Long Rest, the character makes a Recovery save against a DC equal to 5 + the ability score's current reduced amount. If they succeed, they recover an amount of ability score points equal to the number of Degrees of Success they achieve. Failure can actually reduces the score further, by an amount equal to the number of Degrees of Failure they achieve, minus 1. This process is done for every Ability Score that has any damage. If a character's ability score is reduced to 0 or lower, they fall into a Coma that they don't awaken until their score is brought up to 1 or higher. If a character's score reaches a number below 0 equal to the inverse of their ability score's original amount, they die. Also, if a character's Constitution score falls to 0, they die.

Ability Score Loss
Your character's ability score has been permanently reduced by 1 or more points. This damage cannot be healed without magic. If a character's Constitution score falls to 0, they die.



Resting and Healing

Spending Hit Die:
A character can spend one or more Hit Dice at the end of some Rests, up to the character’s maximum number of Hit Dice, which is equal to the character’s level. For each Hit Die spent in this way, the player rolls the die and adds the character’s Constitution modifier to it. The player can decide to spend an additional Hit Die after each roll. Hit Die are only recovered after a Long Rest. What the spent Hit Die do is dependant upon the rest.

Light activity:
Most forms of rest refer to light activity. During light activity, characters can eat, drink, nap, consume media, play games that aren't physically intense, chat, take shorts walks, some light driving, tending to their well being, and otherwise relaxing. Anything else is considered strenuous activity.

Taking a Breather:
The character takes a moment to gather their thoughts, take stock of the situation, and psyche themselves up for what may happen next. Taking a Breather is a type of rest that can only be done during combat, and only once an encounter. It is a Full-Round action that allows a character to spend their Hit Die with a successful Easy Recovery save; if the character fails this Recovery save, they are not considered to have used their Breather. Hit Die spent after a successful Recovery save grant the character an amount of temporary hit points equal to the amount rolled. These temporary Hit Points vanish at the end of the Encounter. A successful Recovery save removes all Mild Injuries, as well as one level of exhaustion, and grants disadvantage to all attack rolls made against them until the start of the character's next turn. As stated before, a character can only take one Breather during a combat encounter, and can't make another until they have completed a Short rest.

Short Rest:
A Short Rest is a period of Downtime, at least 10 minutes long, during which a character can engage in light activity. After completing a Short Rest, the character makes a Recovery check (DC: 15). If successful, the character may spend their Hit Die, and heals an amount of non-lethal damage equal to the amount rolled, and removes a number of exhaustion levels equal to number of Hit Die spent. A successful Recovery save also removes all Serious Injuries. If the Recovery check is unsuccessful, the character may still roll HD and heal an amount equal to half the amount rolled, and removes a number of exhaustion levels equal to half the number of Hit Die spent. One can only benefit from a Short rest once in a 60 minute period. You may take a Short Rest at the same time you take a Standard, Long, and Complete rest.

Standard Rest:
A Standard rest is one in which the character must sleep at least 8 consecutive hours. If their sleep is interrupted by a period of light activity lasting a total of 10 minutes or longer, or engaging in any strenuous activity, the Character must begin the rest again to gain any benefit from it.

At the end of a Standard Rest, a character removes any exhaustion they may have, and the character makes a Fairly Easy Recovery save. If successful, roll HD and convert the amount rolled from lethal damage to non-lethal damage. A successful Recovery save also removes all Extensive Injuries. If unsuccessful, you still roll, and convert only half that amount. A Standard rest can only be done once in a 24 hour period. You may take a Standard Rest at the same time you take a Short, Long, and Complete rest.

Long Rest:
A Long Rest is a period of extended Downtime, lasting 7 days, during which a character may engage in up to 1 total hour of strenuous activity, and must get 8 hours of sleep each day. The remaining hours of the day are reserved for light activity. If you fail to comply with these restrictions, that day is lost, but you do not have to start the 7 days again, unless you lose two consecutive days.

At the end of a Long Rest, a character is no longer Fatigued, and makes an Intermediate Recovery save, with Advantage. If successful, they regain all Spent Hit Die. If the successful Recovery save was made by an attending physician, it also removes all Traumatic Injuries. If they fail, they regain an amount equal to half of that amount (minimum of one die).

Complete Rest
A complete rest requires the character to spend 30 days (minus their Con mod) engaged in nothing but sleep and no more than a number of hours each day equal to their Con mod (minimum of 1) engaged in Light Activity. Engaging in more Light Activity than this causes the character to lose that day. If they lose 7 consecutive days, or engage in any strenuous activity, they must start the complete rest all over again.
After successfully taking a Complete rest, a character makes a Difficult Complex Recovery saving throw. If successful, they roll all their Hit Die. They convert an amount of semi-permanent damage into lethal damage equal to the amount rolled. Any remaining semi-permanent damage becomes permanent damage. If the successful Recovery save was made by an attending physician, it also removes all Intensive Injuries that can be removed. If they fail their Complex saving throw, all their Semi-permanent damage becomes Permanent damage.
Please note Success on a Difficult Complex Recovery saving throw requires 5 successful individual skill checks; each check is made after taking a Complete rest. Failing a Difficult Complex saving throw actually requires the character to have failed the individual check 3 times. It is only after failing 3 times that their Semi-permanent damage becomes permanent damage.

Recovery Saving Throw
There are multiple times a character is called on to make a Recovery saving throw, too many to list. Recovery saving throws are either made using the character's Endurance skill, or if the character is being attending by a Physician, the attending Physician's Medicine skill.

Combat Maneuvers
If you do not possess Tool Training with a Maneuver, you use it with Disadvantage.

All Combat Maneuvers are considered Attacks.Aggressive Stance
By granting Advantage on all attack rolls made against you until the start of your next turn, you can inflict bonus damage to all your Melee attacks equal to the amount by which your attack roll exceeds your opponent’s Defense. The maximum additional damage is equal to your ranks in the Maneuvering skill. You also add 1.5 times your Strength bonus (if any) to all damage inflicted with a melee weapon that lacks the Light property, and 2 times your Strength bonus to all damage inflicted with a Two-handed or Heavy weapon while in an aggressive stance.

Bull Rush
After making a successful melee attack against an opponent up to one size category larger than you, you can choose to move that opponent in any direction with a successful Athletics or Maneuvering check versus their Maneuvering check or Resistance Saving Throw. They move a number of 5 foot increments equal to the degrees of success you achieve. You can't Bull Rush an opponent that's Prone, or being Grabbed, Grappled, or Pinned. If you force your opponent into a solid object, they take 1d6 points of impact damage for every five feet they should have moved, and then fall prone. If they are moved into another creature's Space, they fall prone, and the other person needs to succeed at a Reflexes or Resistance saving throw versus the attacker's maneuvering check or fall prone themselves.

Demoralize
As an Interaction, you can also use Intimidation to weaken an opponent’s resolve in combat. To do so, make an Intimidate check opposed by the target’s own Intimidation or Resolve Saving Throw. If you win, the target becomes Shaken for a number of rounds equal to the Degrees of Success achieved. You can only Demoralize an opponent that you threaten in melee combat and that can see you. If you fail, and the opponent used Intimidation to oppose you, you are Shaken instead. In either case, success or failure, you can only attempt to Demoralize an individual opponent once during combat.

Dirty Trick
You can attempt to hinder a foe in melee as an Attack using any number of skills, although when in doubt, just use Maneuvering, opposed by Maneuvering or an appropriate Saving Throw as selected by the GM. This maneuver covers any sort of situational attack that imposes a penalty on a foe for a short period of time. Examples include kicking sand into an opponent’s face to blind him for 1 round, pulling down an enemy’s pants to halve his speed, or hitting a foe in a sensitive spot to make him sickened for a round. The GM is the arbiter of what can be accomplished with this maneuver, but it cannot be used to impose a permanent penalty, and the results can be undone if the target spends an Interaction to compose themselves.

If your attack is successful, the target takes a penalty. The penalty is limited to one of the following conditions:
blinded, dazzled, deafened, entangled, shaken, or sickened.

This condition lasts for a number of rounds equal to the degrees of success you achieved.

Disarm
A Disarm attack forces your opponent to drop the weapon they are carrying. To Disarm an opponent, you make a melee Maneuver check versus your target's own Maneuver check, or their Resistance Saving Throw (their choice). If you get more than 1 degree of success, you may cause the weapon to land in any unoccupied square a number of 5 foot increments away from them equal to the degrees of success achieved after the first one. Lastly, instead of forcing your opponent to drop their weapon, you can instead attempt to take it from them. In this case, the opponent gains Advantage to their opposed check.

Trip
A Trip attack renders an opponent Prone. To trip an opponent, you make a melee Maneuver check versus your target's own Maneuver check, or their Resistance Saving Throw (their choice).

, Drag, Fast Punch, Feint, Flurry, Joint Lock, Overrun, Parry, Power Punch, Precision Strike, Push, Reactive Stance, Reposition, Restrain, Steal, Sunder